A New Years Eve 4 Miler...and then I'm back on the road to Los Angeles tomorrow!

Brrr.....cold today! But i was determined to get a run in before I sit in the car for 3 days!! So out velcro and i went. I waited until about 3:30pm when it was it's warmest-about 35 degrees! So off we went-me dressed in my "cold weather running clothes"...as long as my ears and hands are covered I'm pretty happy!!! I listened to nice tunes, ran with my constant running partner and had a very lovely run with my girl!!! It felt wonderful! I'm going to miss it for the next 3 days!!! But I'll hopefully get a run in when I land in LA on saturday night-or at least that's the plan!!!

I hope everyone has a wonderful New Year! Please be safe!! But enjoy!!! I'll be posting from the road! I've already planned my first stop-OKC...Willie here I come again!!!!

Tuesday: WALK 1.72 with velcro and my son (33:45)
Wednesday: RUN: 4.18 miles with velcro (55:56)

A Long Run in Nashville.....

Well, I got a pseudo long run in tonight. I didn't run this morning-instead I went out for tea with my mom and dad and then Velcro and I walked home (about an mile). So I decided to run tonight...after shopping at the wonderful Goodwill in Nashville and Southeastern Salvage! So today around 3:30 I made the drive down to Centennial Park. I decided to run around the park in case I really couldn't finish the 8 miles I had wanted to run! I thought-I can always stop if I feel bad and only be about .5 miles from the car. Of course running around the park 4 times and then 2 times around the small loop about drove me NUTS!!! I hate running consecutive loops! I'm much better running one big loop or a point to point. But I just didn't feel like doing that today-so I paid the price and saw the same things over and over and over again! But I had my girl with me-and she always keeps me entertained!!

It was a pretty slow run. Of course I had pee and poop times with Velcro and then rolling in the grass time, and then squirrel chasing time-it's the least I can do since Velcro runs with me and never complains! Around 7.5 miles I started to get a slightly stiff back....this is beginning to happen to me. I wonder why?? I ran most of this run on grass, until the last 1.5 miles. It might be my running style-which sometimes changes depending on my foot! So I'm having a glass of wine-makes a decent pain pill!

I feel much better having run a somewhat long run! I have the Carlsbad Half Marathon at the end of January and I'd like to have a better result than I did in Long Beach!

Tomorrow is my mom's birthday-I'll hopefully get a short run in and then wednesday is New years Eve-we're all going out for dinner and then bright and early thursday morning, the 1st, I start my journey back to Los Angeles. The weather is looking good for another Oklahoma City stop.....I'll have to stop since Willie's birthday is New Years Eve!!!

RUN: 8.31 miles with Velcro (1:52)

A crappy humid run in Nashville

OMG I am so tired!!! I don't know what is wrong with me! I was exhausted yesterday and today I'm the same. I feel like I've been so lethargic since I've gotten here. Of course then my mom reminded me that I did two transatlantic flights in a weekend, have worked crazy hours, drove cross country and ma over 40(I didn't really need to hear that part) and that I can't rebound like I used to! Mom...can't I be sick or something instead of getting old? I don't think that was really a nice thing to say! Well, needless to say I'm exhausted! But I had to run today, and what a crappy run it was! It's really warm here for December, 69 degrees and HUMID. Hmmm I'm not used to this humid weather...it was supposed to rain today-why couldn't I have waited for the rain...oh yeah I have some sort of high school class gathering tonight-because I came in from California. UGH! Not in the mood! All i want to do is get into my pj's and sit on the couch wrapped in a blankie! But NO...I have to get dressed, look cute and SKINNY and put makeup on and do my hair! This is my vacation-I don't want to do anything but veg and run!!! Oh well.....

So I did run but it was SLOW. I had to walk-my asthma started bothering me, I couldn't get cool, I had ZERO energy...I probably should have stayed home but I feel fat and nasty and I have the half marathon in a month so I MUST run even when I don't feel like it!!!

RUN: 3.14 miles with a 47 lb anchor AKA Velcro (42:34)

Bells Bend Park for a long walk!

We went to Bells Bend Park today which is in Ashland City, TN. It's down by the Cumberland River and beautiful and quiet! Since I was with my brother, his girlfriend and Banner, their Lab, we opted for a walk! And it was a good walk-thru clay mud and stickery bushes. I've been super tired since I've come to nashville. I think work and travel is catching up to me! So I was glad to only walk today and then take a nap!!!!

WALK: 3.7 miles with Velcro and Banner

A Christmas Run at Centennial park....

After a fun-filled christmas morning, I had to get out and get some exercise! Velcro and I were both getting cabin fever. So my entire family all went down to centennial Park. Mom, dad and son walked, I ran with my diehard running partner, Velcro! She is the best running partner I've ever had-NEVER complains!! Of course, I have to make a few concessions: pee stops, poo stops, rolling in the grass stops, squirrel chasing stops....but it's all worth it! Because I have an enthusiastic running partner whenever I need one!!! So I will sacrifice a little time to run and have a great time with velcro. This run was no exception. lots of ducks and squirrels!! As a matter of fact, velcro has never seen so many squirrels!!! She's in heaven!!!

It was a decent run. Centennial Park has a one mile loop around the park and it's relatively flat. So that's where I went today! And got a decent run in considering I could have been at home in my pj's! I hope everyone had a great holiday!!

RUN: 4.25 miles with velcro (55:27)

Merry Christmas!

My gift from my son!
Check out my new Tennessee attire!

Many happy returns from my family to yours!! I hope everyone is having a wonderful holiday!!

An early run before the rains and Happy Holidays!

Happy Holidays!!!


































Christmas Eve and it's been raining all day here in Nashville. And I love it!! It was pouring earlier!!! I got a decent run in this morning before it started pissing down rain-but the wind was STRONG and howling so half the run was against the wind! Velcro wasn't too keen on the wind, she'd tuck in behind me drafting! Little beast! Once we got home, I dashed out with my dad for a bit of shopping! I usually finish way before Christmas Eve so that I don't have to deal with the crazy stores! But because of the rain it wasn't too bad!!!I hope everyone has a wonderful safe holiday! Enjoy the time with your families, loved ones,animals etc! Now I'm sitting down with a glass of wine with my family! Happy Holiday!!!

RUN: 5.56 miles with Velcro (1:17)

Conway Arkansas to Nashville...the trip is over, for now!

Well...my last night was a winner!! After leaving Willie and his boys in OKC, we drove and drove until we reached Conway, Arkansas. I wanted to make the following day as short as possible. So I picked a Motel 6 in Conway, Arkansas. Now let me preface this by saying, the Motel 6 in Needles was really nice-a very good experience! The Conway Motel 6 was a different story. It started with the desk clerk and proceeded to get worse!! Her boyfriend was there so as she was checking me in, she was talking smack to her boyfriend.....not a good sign in my opinion. Once I was given my room, a first floor room finally, I drove around and started moving the babies in. I noticed the deadbolt on my door was loose-I had to screw it back it...WTF? And then the door wouldn't operate properly....signs! Once I got the animals in, I decided that was it! I was in!!! But wait...what are the cats doing-sniffing EVERYTHING in the room...yikes, what do they smell....and what are those stains on the carpet? why are my cats sniffing everything. Maybe they smell another animal???

I tried to ignore this curious behavior by my cats...but then I went into the bathroom and what did I see? A cockroach circling the top of the litter box. AAAHHHH I hate cockroaches! It's 12 degrees out. Shouldn't the cockroaches be dead? Oh wait-cockroaches will survive a nuclear holocaust! I killed the cockroach but was immediately disgusted!!! Bugs! I hate bugs especially when I'm in a hotel room!!! There was no way I was getting under the covers in the bed!!! For all I know there could be bed bugs in this hotel! YIKES!!!!

Ok...where are my cats...what are they doing??? I go to find Perf, he's hiding under the bed-OMG what is that under the bed? A dirty diaper! I'm officially disgusted!!! I nearly walked out and drove to Nashville!! How absolutely horrendous!! There was no way I was sleeping in this bed! But I had to get some sleep. Luckily I brought my own blanket, so I slept on top of the bed with my blanket and my animals keeping me warm. The thermostat for the heater was wacked-so it was either too hot or too cold. Not the most restful of sleeps to say the least!

To say I didn't sleep well is a major understatement! I didn't sleep well! I had visions of cockroaches dancing in my head!!! And then around 4:30am, the hotel guest upstairs decided to leave-all I heard was the pounding of his feet, the door slamming and then beep-beep-beep-beep of a moving van backing up ....Is this really happening! The trip has been wonderful up until this point!!!

I did fall back asleep and woke up at 6am to my alarm! No shower-NO WAY!!! I was not stripping down to jump in the shower in this room! Hell No! I'll be dirty and smelly for the trip to Nashville and then I'll disinfect all of my clothes!!

The trip back to Nashville from that point was uneventful...I joyously belted out classic rock and listened to wonderful sirius stations 21 and 22! I got into Nashville around 1pm-EXHAUSTED!!! It was great to see my family!!

I got all of the animals out and into the house...Velcro was thrilled to be out of the car!!!

I would have posted last night, but due to my horrible sleep the night before, I felt I needed rest!!! I did get a short cold run in yesterday before dark!!

And if anyone cares...I did write a letter to motel 6 complaining about the hotel room. They have already replied and sent their sincerest apologies and are giving me a free night!!

RUN: 2.55 miles with Velcro in a COLD COLD Nashville.... (37:41) I ran past my Junior High School

Day #3 Tucumcari, NM to Conway, Arkansas...are we there yet???

So when did My Sharona become a classic rock song??? I forgot a tidbit from my stay in Tucumcari, NM....while staying at the Quality Inn on Tucumcari Blvd in Tucumcari, Nm I opted for a much needed glass of wine. Now, I am a bit of a wine snob!! Living in California has done that to me. So I usually bring wine with me....unfortunately I only brought enough for a glass, very unlike me! So I had to go to the Quality Inn lounge for a glass.....hmm...taste a bit odd....so I went down for another one...oh now I understand, the cabernet the bartendress is pouring is from a BIG BOX!!!! WTF? I don't drink wine out of big boxes!! But i drank it


anyway!!!

I woke up to COLD!!!! From what I understand it was around 12 degrees...what is that??? I don't see that cold-EVER!!! And I had to load 3 cats, a dog, a litter box and bags into my car in the cold from the 2nd floor. Every hotel I've been relegated to the 2nd floor....that has to stop!!

Well...let me continue my day 3 saga....Breakfast...DENNY'S! French Toast with scrambled eggs (it was a scrambled egg-all congeled together) and sausage and bacon(for my girl)....two days in a row I've had DENNY'S for breakfast!!! WOW! What a shock to my system!

We got on the road at 7:15am making our way to Amarillo. My plan was to spend as little time in texas as possible. i'm not a big fan of Texas-for personal reasons-so when we had to stop in Amarillo for over priced Diesel I was a little disappointed in my organizational skills! The idea was to drive straight thru Texas not stop. But stop we did(we means me and the 4 animals). Wholly shit it was cold in Amarillo!!! OMG! I thought my fingers were going to freeze off!!! It gave me even more reason to get the hell out of Texas!!!

Off we went-our next stop Oklahoma City to see Willie and have lunch at a place called Louie's. We were cruising along until I noticed the sign for the Oklahoma Welcome Center-DOG PARK...could that be correct? Could the Oklahoma Welcome Center have a dog park. I had to stop and find out.

WOW!! What an awesome stop it was! Yes, they had a small dog park and a large dog park!!! AWESOME!!! We went into the large dog area, we had it all to ourselves, and I threw the tennis ball for Velcro! I had a happy dog now!!! Well worth the stop!!!( Note: heading east on I-40, the New Mexico Welcome Center has a fenced in dog area and then the Oklahoma Welcome Center with it's wonderful dog park!)....I had to call Willie and let him know our lunch would now be a late lunch. I was estimating a 2:30pm arrival at Lake Hefner...

I made it to Lake Hefner for lunch! It's the ocean for Oklahoma City!!! And windy and COLD! Brrrrr...COLD! Once again I felt like my fingers were going to fall off. I had to hunt for my gloves...gloves-what are they???

Velcro and I went for a short walk staying withing screaming distance of Louie's. We walked to the lighthouse and took pictures and then saw Willie and his two sons walking towards us. Seems Willie did a wonderful thing and bought his wife a trip to Hawaii for her graduation gift! How nice is that!!!!

We had a wonderful lunch! Willie's kids are wonderful! Don't listen to him when he says anything about his parenting abilities!!! It was wonderful meeting them and seeing Willie again!!! I can't believe it had been so long since we had had fish tacos in Hermosa Beach. What was really cool-Velcro recognized him!!!!

Unfortunately it was now 4pm, and I really had to get back on the road. My hopes of making it to Nashville tonight had been dashed on day #1 when i sat in traffic in LA for 3 hours!!! So my goal was to make it into Arkansas so that my last day is short. And that's where I am now...Conway Arkansas.....hmmm, no bar here. No wine for me....The animals have been sniffing the entire room...scary! I don't think I'm getting under the sheets! Maybe it's just an dog they smell.... Velcro is snoring, Perf is beside me, Blossom has been racing around the room and Kodak is in the bathroom drinking water....all is normal!

But again...when did My Sharona become a classic rock song? Am I that old??? I had a great singing day today! I found a great classic rock station in Tulsa(great reception once I left OKC) so iw as singing to my hearst content. Of course, it's been Sirius satellite radio that has gotten me thru the dead zones, music wise, of this country! Channel 21 and 22 are the best!!! 70's and 80's alternative...I've been reliving my college years singing today! it's been a blast!!!

Tomorrow, we reach our final destination-NASHVILLE...and I'll be running tomorrow night-running of Denny's breakfast!!!

Thanks Willie!!!!! It was so nice to have a place to stop and a friendly face to see on my cross country trip!!!

Day #2 and I'm in Tucumcari, NM

I had every intention of making it to Oklahoma City today-but I'm fighting father time!!! I keep driving east and losing time!!! So I stopped in Tucumcari, NM-which is fairly close to Texas and called it a night. I had driven for about 12 hours-and let me tell you when I finally got into a hotel-Velcro went nuts!!!! She's not really into sitting for 12 hours...and with no exercise-wow I have a crazed dog on my hands...she loves getting into the hotel room-she really watches the kitties!!

I just got my pizza, having a glass of wine and will soon be going night night! I'm having lunch with Willie in OKC tomorrow!!! We're going to take Velcro for a walk afterwards...did I say it's f**ing cold here??

Day #1...

and we're only in Needles, Ca. Traffic was HORRENDOUS! It took us forever to get out of LA. Once we got on the 15, speeds picked up a bit. So here we are in the hotel. I'm hoping to get an early start in the morning!! My goal was to make Oklahoma City tomorrow night-don't think that will be happening unless I start at 5am and drive until who knows!!!

The drive was nice-it was dark most of the time-but nice. I sang my heart out....I started with all my LA stations then proceeded to the high desert stations and then ended on a Country note....such a wide variety of music for my travels!!

So far the animals are wonderful!! No fights, no crying-just peace, quiet and sleep!!! Gotta love it. Lets hope they are the same tomorrow! I'm sure Velcro will be a bit more wound up tomorrow since I'm not running in Needles and we wont be playing before we leave!

My last sunset run looking at the Pacific before heading to Tennessee....

I've been scurrying around all day trying to get ready to start my drive to Tennessee tomorrow. What was I thinking planning a trip in the dead of winter with ALL of my furry family members??? I guess I just hate leaving them! The cats shouldn't have to spend over a week by themselves when I can easily take them-ok maybe easily isn't the correct word. Two of my cats have traveled all over the country with me, it's the newest wench that might cause a disturbance in the force...and mix that with Velcro....I'll be hoping to make record time to Nashville!!

I did get another nice Christmas light run in tonight, this time along the water. SO I caught the last glimpse of sunlight and Christmas lights...not to shabby!

Velcro was in prime form tonight-super happy! Everyone should take notes from dogs. they are the happiest creatures! It makes for a slow run for me when she's with me, but I wouldn't change it for the world! To watch her excitement when we get out of the car and when she can roll in the grass-sheer joy! It's so happy to watch!!! So tonight was a very happy run with my bestest girl, Velcro!!

RUN: 4.06 miles with Velcro (56:56)

If you live in maryland-Help Find Andie

Please help find Andie. She went missing in Germantown, MD.

She's afraid of men, so theya re asking for female volunteers. if you can help-please check out her blog and call!! thanks so much!


http://helpfindandie.blogspot.com/

45 degrees, rainy and windy....

And I went out for a wonderful run! The rain was spitting at the beginning of my run but then started coming down harder and it was glorious! I'm not sure if Velcro was too thrilled but she stuck with me and had her fair share of pee's, poo's, sniffs and leash grabs!

This was my Christmas Light run...I don't know if everyone's neighborhood is like mine, but there are tons of house decked with Christmas lights. It makes running at night so much fun!! I get to see such a wide variety of decorations!!It wasn't a fast run but a fun run!
I actually had only planned on running 3 miles but realized I felt pretty good and was having a damn nice time so I continued on in the rain....enjoying every pounding step!!!

RUN: 4.2 miles with Velcro (59:53)

By the way, I just found out I'm the leader of the Fundraising for Labrador Rescuers for the Carlsbad Half Marathon at the end of January....but I'm no where near my goal...maybe my goal was too much-I did pick it before the economy decided to plummet! Well, If you can help the Labs and donate to my charity any amount would be greatly appreciated! The link is at the top! Thanks so much! And happy cold weather running! It was FUN!

Another First!.....

I was the only Women's Master's A runner-so getting first was kinda funny...but heh a first is a first damn it and in my quest for a LA Sherrif's Athletic Association Beer Mug if I could get first place in each race-how cool would that be!!! My time was 33:00.2 what the hell is that .2??? Next time under 33 minutes for I'll be ready to conquer the streets surrounding the Men's Downtown Jail!!!

Women's Master A
Place	Name	City	Age	Overall	Time	Pace
1	Penny Sprague		43	19	33:00.2	6:36/K

LASAA East LA Station 5K and 2 weeks off nearing rapidly!!!

East LA Baby!! That's where my second leg of three races took place today on my quest for my "MUG" in the Los Angeles Sheriff's Athletic Association Mug Runs. I was told..."next race you get a mug"...woo hoo!!! I can't wait!! It's big and it's going to be filled with BEER! Thank you LA Sherrifs Athletic Association!

First of all-I woke up TIRED today and still battleing a sinus infection! I'm so congested-it's disgusting and I wont tell you all the horrible "snotty" details of my head and sinus'!! And it's been a VERY long week for me! When I woke up at 6am, I really thought about going back to sleep-but I WANT THAT MUG! So up I got...even though I'm beat! Obviously I got back from Scotland at 1am on monday morning-so I didn't have alot of sleep on monday, tuesday I was up at 3:50am, I had a 5:42am call on Private Practice-and then we proceeded to work a 15 hour day. Wednesday I was back on Private Practice-I hoped for a short day...it was an hour shorter than the day before, 14 hours of work! I got home around midnight on wednesday and new I wasn't going to get alot of sleep for I was on Navy NCIS the next day with an 8:12 call. Now NCIS shoots about 60 miles away from my house-and for an 8:12am call, I had to leave at 6:15am! Luckily, we only worked an 11 hour day!!! And I was so excited that I might actually get some sleep! For I only had a prep on friday at Panavision for CSI. But I was till up at 6am on friday-and sat in traffic, heading to Panavision, for about an hour and a half! By the time I got home on friday night it was about 6pm-I was so ready for bed then!! But that didn't happen until about10pm....and then today I was up at 6am. So running in a race reallyw asn't at the top of my priority list-but I got my fat arse out of bed and drove to East LA to be surrounded by law enforcement men! And it was all men...well, of maybe about 10 women total!!

The race was starting at the Citadel Outlets parking lot-could I possibly run and then shop all in one trip??? It was COLD today(by California standards) about 45degrees. I warmed up a bit, but knew my asthma would probably bother me today because of my sinus infection and the cold-yeah it did. I felt short of breathe for the entire race! I was really gunning for a faster time than the last race....I tried, but had to walk a few times because the cold air was going right into my lungs! All was good though-I had numerous personal LA Sherrif escorts and knew if I fell over someone would be there to pick me up!!!

The finish was a bit confusing-it was geared to the 10K runners who were running a circular route. Our route, the 5K, was an out and back so we were coming around from the wrong end of the finish(we had to go around a cone and then come back to the line). Well silly me thought after I rounded the cone I was done until everyone was yelling at me to not stop! So I ran about 20 feet more and then finished! I stopped my clock at 32:54 but I had stopped it when i though I had finished....when i turned around to look at the official clock it read 33:00 so i think I finished under 33 minutes but will have to wait and see what my time was and where I placed. The joys of running in these races is: small races, mainly men, I have the GREAT potential to win my division because I'm in the "masters" category and there aren't many "master women" running in these races!! Gotta love it!

I was going to wait around for the results-but i got cold and decided to head home to velcro!! She didn't get to run this morning so I wanted to take her to the park before the rains started. YES...we are due to get rain in southern california! It's rained a bit today-but nothing significant yet!!!

Now I'm at home. I made a delicious Thai pan fried noodle dish with sauteed veggies-it was delicious! I'm having a nice glass of wine and I'll soon be going to bed!!

Tomorrow I'm heading to Long Beach to see the cattle dogs at the AKC Eukanuba Dog Championships and then taking my little cattle dog, Velcro, to see her sheep!!! And then hopefully we'll be back in time to go for a trail run! If not, a run of some sort will be in our future!! Monday, I'm working on CSI and then I think I'm filing for unemployment for the rest of the year....my Christmas vacation may be starting on tuesday!! Hopefully I'll get alot of good runs in while I'm off since I have the Carlsbad Half Marathon at the end of January!!! I'm still accepting donations to my Running Cause, Labrador Rescuerers!!!

I'll be driving back to tennessee for the christmas holidays! BRRRRR.....running in the cold again! My cross country trip should be interetsing....

RUN: 3.14 miles at the LASAA East LA Mug Run (32:54)

I'm back!

Wow! What a whirlwind trip I just had!! Here is how my trip to Scotland unfolded....thursday morning I was up at 4:30am to get a quick run in with velcro. I really hate leaving my animals so i wanted to give her a run before I left. My flight left LA at 8:45, so my brother dropped me off at 6:45am...I checked in and headed to the gate. It was on time to JFK and I slept while on the plane. We landed in New York-I think I had a few hours in the airport so i headed to the bar to get 2 beers before getting on the plane! My plan was to try to sleep in 2 hour shifts...so once i got on the plane, I watched a movie, ate dinner-lasagna and then took a nap, then I got up, watched another movie ate breakfast and we were soon landing in London. It was EARLY! about 5:45am and I had immigration and customs to go thru-luckily it was pretty quiet so I was thru fast but then I had to transfer from Terminal 3 to terminal 5....and London heathrow takes their security seriously! The only thing I didn't have done was a cavity check!! I had my bags gone thru so many times(in each terminal) had my face scanned and photo taken and then checked and double checked before getting on my plane to Glasgow....we don't do these things-maybe we should!!

My flight left at 8:30am on Friday morning from London to Glasgow-it was the earliest flight I could get and it was getting me to Glasgow at 9:50am for an 11:30am funeral(30 minutes away) yikes TIGHT!!! I landed in Glasgow, got my bag and raced to the toilets-silly me must have picked the smallest toilet to change in-it was FUNNY! Here I am with my big bag trying to get into heels, black pants and a shirt out of boots, sweats and in this tiny toilet and I'm tired and need a shower-but lathering on more deodorant was all I was going to muster!!

I got dressed and headed out to shove on some makeup and make myself somewhat presentable after being in a plane or traveling for 20 hours....yeah-hard thing to do!!! But once done I went on the hunt for a taxi...let me just say I don't walk well in heels-I had brought dressy boot like heels-so I didn't have to wear tights or hose(I don't own any of those) but walking for me is HARD, and here I was pulling my suitcase, carrying my bag, in heels in snow....sweating....rushing to get a taxi because I couldn't be late to my Grans funeral.

I got in the taxi around 10:30...still plenty of time. My driver was very friendly!! And got me to the crematorium in time! Actually before the rest of the family! I guess the funeral home was pre-warmed that I'd be arriving with luggage in tow so I was able to put it in the family room where I was waiting for the rest of my family! They finally arrived around 11:15-thrilled to see I had made it for I was to be a pallbearer! Yikes-a pallbearer in shoes that i couldn't walk in very well(and getting blisters) carrying my grannies casket on my shoulder...good thing I lift things for a living!

The funeral was very simple and perfect for my granny. I sat with my uncle while the rest of the family was on the other side. After the funeral, we had arrange for everyone to meet at the Helensburgh Golf Club for lunch, drinks and celebrating. My grandfather had been president of the Golf Club, so it was a very appropriate place for us to begin our reminiscing.

Around 3pm, we finished up at the Golf Club, and the family-the large extended family, came back to the house and we continued our "celebration of my granny's life." We had a wonderful time!!! Drinks, dinner, games, stories, drinks...and then dinner-at which time at 9pm I finally succumbed to travel and headed off to bed!

Saturday morning, up at 8am....Let me say I had gotten on my plane in LA with a developing sinus infection....which, while flying had gone from my sinus' to my ears-so I was dealing with clogged ears Friday. I was hoping sleep would clear it up-it did while I was sleeping on each side, but then I woke up and stood up and bam, clogged again! I felt like I had water in my ears the entire trip!!

We spent most of Saturday going thru clothes-my gran had alot of fun hats etc so we all got to put them on. It was really alot of fun!

Around 2pm, I realized if I was going to go for a run, I had to do it quick for it would be dark around 4pm, so I took out my "cold weather gear" and went for my run! My Garmin doesn't work in Scotland so who knows how far I ran. I spent my run avoiding ice and just enjoying the brisk air!!! I of course snapped lots of pics! There were alot of people out-no runners! I always seem to get looks when I'm out running in Scotland! But the sun was out so lots of people were out walking!! It was a beautiful day! The snow on the hills was beautiful! And I wish i had run further!

When i got back, we continued to go thru granny's stuff....my sister was coming down to see us all around 6pm, so we finished up and headed next door to my aunt and uncle's house for wine and fish and chips and more family stories!

Once again it was a wonderful evening!! Lots of wine was consumed and around 10:30pm we all decided to head off to bed since 3 of us were leaving in the morning!

And yes, that was me-leaving on Sunday morning. We left the house at 6:30am....and once again my travels began again!!! I wont bore you with the LONG details...but lets just say my travel day lasted 27 hours!!! The flight from London to Chicago took over 8 hours-silly jet stream!!! It was supposedly super strong and extended our transatlantic journey! Once in Chicago-the immigration computers were down, so we all waited in line until they came back online-ridiculous!!! I arrived at immigration at 5:45pm(45 minutes late from our longer than usual flight) and didn't get thru until 6:15pm-I had a 7:05pm flight to LA-in a different terminal....it wasn't looking good that i was going to make my flight! I raced out of customs, dumped my bag and headed to the train to the AA terminal-only to find out my 7:05pm flight had been delayed until 9:35pm...UGH! You have to be kidding me!!! I saw there was an 8:15pm flight so i was put on the waiting list for that along with everyone else who didn't want to wait!! But wait I did. I found a bar, sat down and had a beer and who did I run into, but 2 friends from CSI-Laila and Jorja....what are the chances? They were on the flight to LA as well...so we all had drinks and waited...and waited and waited....until we finally got on our original flight(that had been delayed out of Cancun) at 9:35pm...finally on our way to LA!!

We arrived in LA at 12:15am....thank goodness my bags were on the baggage claim-I think they arrived before me!!! I grabbed them and headed for a taxi!!! $60 later and 35 minutes later I was home!!! 1am!!!! 27 hours after I had gotten up!!!

Velcro and the kitties were VERY happy to see me!!! And I was very happy to see them!!! It's nice to be home!!! next time, my trip to Scotland wont be that quick!!!

4 December- RUN: 2.68 miles with velcro
6 December- RUN: 2-3 miles in Scotland

on another note...when i got back, I found out I had come in first in the Lennox Mug Run I ran on Nov 15th!!!! FIRST!!! 1st!!! WOW!!!

Women's Master A
Place	Name	City	Age	Overall	Time	Pace
1	Penny Sprague		43	18	33:21.5	6:40/K

what's this Women's Master shit????? I'm not a master!!!!